Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome review

After Max is exiled from an advanced town, he finds a group of children whom he decides to help.

The film’s pace is still steady, focusing more on the plot than the last film. The characters are shown in greater depth too, from the relationship of Master-Blaster, the ruling Queen of Bartertown, Aunty, and Max himself. Even though the plot is deeper, the action is still there, and still just as entertaining.

The film shows us the apocalyptic world in greater detail, how humans have survived and are living now. The town of Bartertown is larger and thriving with live, compared with the makeshift fort that a group of survivors were living in in Mad Max 2, it seems that humans are truly starting to live again the best way that they can.

The apocalyptic world’s mythology has expanded, the children have made their own legends and myths. A crashed plane, and it’s captain, “Captain Walker”, are turned into a legend, of how Walker will return and fly them away to Tomorrow-Morrow land, which is a city in Sydney before the apocalypse. It shows the difference between those who remember the world before the war, and those who grew up with it, those without knowledge make their own, but each of them are trying to give themselves a better life, whether actively pursuing it, or waiting and believing in legend.

Max has changed once again, he is friendlier with people, no longer a totally cold man. While still looking out for himself at the start of the movie, he shows more compassion, and acts once again on what he feels is right. He’s regained a part of himself, I mentioned that in my Mad Max 2 review, that he quickly changed his facial expressions, looking sad as if remembering his family, but quickly turned cold again, as if pushing the memories deep down inside him; he seems to have accepted that they are gone now. He decides to look out for a group of children that he found, they offer him nothing, but he goes out of his way to protect and help them, even wandering into the desert to bring some of them back; the Max of Mad Max 2 wouldn’t have done this, and let them go to their deaths.

Max has found a new self, one that might not have been totally gone, but repressed. Whatever the cause, if a part of max has resurfaced it isn’t the true Max of old, whatever he has become, it’s new, and he’s better for it.